Digital and tech trends for 2013

10 January 2013

As is traditional, the last month has seen a whole lot of articles putting an ear to the rail, so to speak, to see what’s coming down the line for us in 2013. But what trends do tech-savvy marketeers need to know about? Here is a brief digest of predictions taken from a choice handful of seers and augurs.

> Businessweek

Bloomberg Businessweek asked Vlad Savov from The Verge to give his consumer tech highlights for the coming year. We can expect to see thinner products all around, though that won’t stop some things from getting larger: 2013 will see more ultra high-def 84in 4k resolution TVs come onto the market. Will we also see TV-as-a-computer, TV apps and the long-expected Apple TV launch in 2013?

Vlad also suggests that Windows 8 will be big this year and that the Cloud will continue to work its way into every aspect of our tech lives. Taking advantage of the Cloud will be a slew of new connected cameras, such as the Galaxy from Samsung. For me, though, that barely registers as a step along the road towards the Internet of Things – it’s too close to what we have with our current smartphones. Connected cars, though? That’d be something.

> Trendwatching.com

A site that provides a regular round up of trends from around the world, not to mention a constant stream of made-up buzzwords. This year’s top 10 trends include such delights as Presumers and Custowners, which highlight the growing opportunity for consumers to get involved as micro-investors, able to influence new products and services via sites such as Kickstarter.com.

Perhaps more germane to digital marketing is the Mobile Moments trend, in which consumers use mobile technology to extract value from every part of their time-poor days with the aid of niche apps.

And while the Full Frontal trend might not be new new, it does indicate how the radical transparency of some brands in recent years is not a fad. There is real value and trust to be earned from having such transparency at the very core of your corporate DNA. Companies that manage this may create Demanding Brands that are able to make meaningful and ongoing requests of their customers – for insight, for ideas, for content – to the benefit of both parties.

> Gartner

This US tech research firm has released its Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends For 2013, helpfully summarised here or direct from their webinar here (requires registration). And while their work targets enterprise level IT teams, there’s plenty in there for the rest of us.

Unsurprisingly, there is yet another forecast of the dominance of mobile, in which mobile eclipses the desktop PC experience, especially for web consumption. Gartner’s Mobile Device Battles trend forecasts the increasing struggle among diverse mobile devices and OSes.

However, as smartphone technology matures and differences between devices become superficial, surely it is the Personal Cloud that becomes the key technology in our day-to-day lives? Rather than what our phones can do (they all do the same thing), it is the services that we can get from the Cloud that will offer the most value. And having mentioned the Cloud, Gartner could barely avoid mentioning the Internet of Things, the world of non-PC devices which draws on data from the Cloud to provide personal, local and timely services to other things and, of course, people.

So…

We’ve briefly delved into just a handful of forecasts out of literally dozens that have been published over the last couple of months and, while it pays to look into the detail of some of the more esoteric predictions (New Life Inside from Trendwatching, for example. Would you plant a used pencil?), the key trends are consistent:

2. Services in THE CLOUD provide the value and the seamless user-experience in a world of multi-device ownership

3. The Cloud provides the glue holding together the nascent INTERNET OF THINGS in which houses, clothes, cameras, TVs and, yes, fridges become smart and connected.

There are certainly other developments you need to be aware of: the continuing debate on native apps vs HTML5, the need for corporations to embrace total transparency and how to manage the need for an always-on social media presence.

There’s one more trend, too, that I would like to offer. How on earth are we going to discover the good stuff in the vast Cloud and Internet of Things? Cedar’s trend for 2013 is EDITORSHIP: the trusted ability to create or curate content of value and professional quality that stands out.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

What’s your favourite prediction or trend for 2013? Let us know in the comments below or @cedarcontent.